Darned if we do, darned if we don't. Pete started with a sup-par team, took chances on very young players with a lot of talent, some with a checkered past. With this talent, he basically turned the corner at the end of year 2, and gave us a championship caliber team in year 3. The team is still full of youngsters with the same personal histories; however, between them all, the worst crime we have is PED violations?? How about if Snyder and PC went about business, as Ruskell did, by identifying boy scout-like qualities as their primary focus? Where do you suppose we'd be right now. We'd have thread after thread of 'fire so and so' and cut 'so and so,' that's where. But more importantly, the blame could go squarely on the coach and GM as opposed to the hyperbole happening right now.

I suppose there will always be a small percentage of people on any message board, whos hobby is to find the next thing to pick at, or the next person to blame. Two (2) young teams, one with a 'player's coach,' as some people like to term it, who has a competition mantra; one coach with more of an old school mentality. They are the two youngest teams in the league AND they have the highest instances of PED violations. To me, the variable is not coaching. From what we've seen so far, PED violations correlate to the average age of the players in an inverse fashion.

But hey, let's just equate this to Japanese kids who commit suicide because of the school system they are in. Careful when you start throwing out something you've read about. My daughter is in the Japanese school system, so I might know something about it and have to disagree. Anything to bolster the someone's argument though.

wow, lots of responses... I always find it funny how many people make assumptions about famous people (actors, politicians, sports figures, coaches, etc) so they can say they "know" they are "guilty" of all kinds of things all based on what they have seen on tv, read on the internet, and the cover of the latest people magazine, without ever knowing them personally. Pete Carroll must be bad because I heard on the news how he cheated at USC and read an article on Bleacher report blah blah...in reality I would venture a guess that the reality is a far cry from the reported sensationalism.

As far as saying the Hawks have a serious problem because we have had 5 players who tested positive for PEDs when the other teams only had 3 or 4 players who did barely makes a case that Pete has no control over the team, and more than any other coach has no control. 5 out of 50 is 10%, but if it is over two years, then it becomes 5 out of 100, and if you include the sample size tested for each team it may change the statistics even further. and if you are going to count adderal users, then you might as well factor in players on teams that were caught using Steroids, HGH, or whatever advantage they could get away with. If I am a manager, yes I am concerned right now, but this is kind of like the oil light on the dash board indicating we have a problem that needs attention, we certainly don't have a blown engine.

Any kind of opinion about a coach or players should have supporting facts, but if you don't have real information or first hand experience otherwise, you have to assume they are dealing with it like most other coaches and front offices would. Not saying they are without blame, just that in the grand scheme of things...

bobincovington wrote:If I am a manager, yes I am concerned right now, but this is kind of like the oil light on the dash board indicating we have a problem that needs attention, we certainly don't have a blown engine.

Young team with some higher risk players probably being tested more than any other team due to recent history. Pretty much sums it up for me.

If we were dealing with shootings, stabbings, DV or other criminal activities I would be much more worried but that this particular group of individuals with some pretty checkered pasts and all we are seeing is some PED violations. I actually think Pete and John are doing a pretty good job keeping these guys as clean as they are. It wasn't long ago when we were reading about Hill beating his lady and (lost the name) the safety getting hit with a street sign on and on and you know what we weren't getting popped for? PEDs.